Lamborghini will debut Estoque in Paris

TURIN -- Lamborghini's concept for a new model to rival the Porsche Panamera will be called Estoque.

The name continues the Italian sports car maker's tradition of using names from bull fighting for its cars.

Estoque is a special sword used by a bullfighter and is closely related to the Espada name, which was used by Lamborghini for its two-door, four-seat coupe built between 1968 and 1978.

Lamborghini's most famous car, the 1966 Miura, was named after a famous Spanish breed of bulls used for bullfighting.

The company's Paris concept will be a near-production concept for a coupe-styled, four-door car that the company wants to sell to widen its appeal to a broader range of luxury sports car buyers.

The production car would compete against the forthcoming Aston Martin Rapide and Audi A7 models as well as the Panamera. Volkswagen group's Audi division owns Lamborghini.

Lamborghini aims to sell about 3,000 Estoques a year, about the same as the planned volume for the Rapide. That would make it more exclusive than the Panamera and the A7. Porsche is planning to sell at least 20,000 Panamera a year of the Panamera. Audi plans to sell about 30,000 A7s.

Lamborghini currently has two model lines: the V-10 Gallardo and the V-12 Murcielago. Both are sold in coupe and roadster body styles and both have rear-mounted engines and permanent four-wheel drive.

The Estoque will have a front engine mounted behind the front axle and four-wheel drive. The carmaker is not disclosing full details of the engine layout and probably will not reveal more in Paris.

Company sources say that the production version could have an engine smaller than Lamborghini's current smallest unit, the 5.0-liter V-10 of the Gallardo. This would help to keep the car relatively short.

The engine could be a direct-injection, twin turbocharged unit supplied by Audi.

Sources said the car could be an all-aluminum vehicle based on Audi's new A8 platform. Aston Martin's Rapide will be all-aluminum.

The Panamera and the A7 likely will have steel platforms.

Lamborghini is posting record unit sales and profits.

In the first half, the carmaker increased its pretax profit by 32.6 percent to 35 million euros. Revenues rose 9.6 percent to 277.4 million euros.

The company sold 1,309 vehicles compared with 1,238 in the first eight months of 2007.